A Bright Light & a Guardian Angel

I stayed up all night by the fire the night before I left Coffee Bay the first time. I was trying to finish this drum that I had rushed into. It is beyond a long story, do not fret it will come in time.

Naturally, I had a great sleep on the greyhound cruising up to Durban. This bright light woke me up at sunset. I am pretty sure it was a message from our guardian angel because the next 24 hours were some of the wildest in my life....

When I went back to capture the sunset, & ended up meeting Elsa (the colored lady) & this other boy. Both were South African, and they were some of the first people that really educated me on South Africa's history.

I had just settled in with my atlas and a great history lesson. Then, we stopped for a routine dinner break. This dinner break was anything but routine...

As we are about to order our bus attendant comes to us freaking out. He did not write us proper tickets because he wanted to pocket our money & now the cops were wanting to get on board and check our tickets. If he got busted, he would be fired. So the bus needed to leave us & it would come back to pick us up. (At this point I had been on so many dodgy bus rides this honestly did not worry me too much. It was a viable company & I did have my luggage ticket. Plus He promised he would come back for us. Sarah was in great spirits about the whole adventure too! One of the other girls with us, not so much....)

About an hour later the cops have come for us and want to give us a ride to the bus. HA, no thank you. Not in the United States. The cops do not offer free rides in the back of their cars. Not only were they nice cops, but we even

had a major dance party in the back of the cop car to "Whats love gotta do with it?" by Tina Turner. Seriously one of the highlights of my life.

And from there the saga only continues. I am still not positive what really went down. Because when we do get back to the bus the attendant tells everyone else that we just missed the bus. So you can imagine how frustrated everyone on the bus is at us. He approaches us later & tells us it is our little secret blah blah blah...

Then when we arrive to the bus station our new best friend Elsa who says this kinda stuff happens has a friend that can give us a lift to the hostel (where we do not have a reservation.) The bus was supposed to be there much earlier. Not having a reservation has never really been an issue for me. Sarah knew this was going to be a problem, but did I listen? Thankfully Elsa cuses out the non existant help at the fully booked hostel, that was not fully booked.

So its midnight, we have already been left by our shady bus, we couldnt get a cab, and we have no place to stay. I love an adventure! Of course Elsa (who has 5 children to go home to) graciously opens her doors to us. I have never been so excited to see a bed considering I have not properly slept in 48ish hours.

We woke up in the morning, had coffee, walked around the neighborhood, and met her whole family. Then we found a hostel and raced all around Durban because Sarah & I only had 24ish hours left. 

Here is Elsa & her youngest daughter.

After this adventure I sent Sarah packing....

But hopefully she is fishing for another excuse to come meet me back in Coffee Bay, or wherever I may be....

Lions, & Tigers, & Bears... OH MY!

While Sarah & I were stopped over in Port Elizabeth we went to an elephant park & a separate game reserve. Originally we were a little disappointed about the weather because it was a bit chilly & rainy. Later, we discovered it was advantageous for us because the animals were way more sedated & we got more appearances by animals that generally stay hidden the whole day. The reason why they were so sedated is because they would find good shelter from the colder wetter weather & generally stay in one place.

The reserves are fenced in & lightly monitored. The employees do not interact or feed the animals ever. So the animals are definitely still wild, but they are accustomed to the car flow & what not.

The other very valuable lesson that I learned is I have absolutely no interest in going on a safari. We rode around alllllll day long in their open air buckeyes. I am so thankful for the experience that Sarah & I had. Even though it was a bit expensive, I did learn a valuable lesson. It is booooooooooring riding around in those buckeyes. And I have absolutely no desire doing an even longer safari where all you do is ride around looking at animals just laying around chillen. We were so lucky to see all the animals we did, but I consider myself far more lucky to not have settled in for a long intense safari filled with a lot of riding around.

PUMBA

was easily was one of the biggest highlights of our safari. The mamas run with such a distinctive hopping strut with their tale up so the kiddos can follow. It is beyond captivating.

The male ostrich have the darker feathers.

A dung beetle doing what it does best.

Beef- Its what for dinner.

There were very few areas where we could get out of the truck, but this was obviously one of them. It was a neat wooded area with two stories for viewing the elephants.

The only down side of the cooler weather is we did not get to see the elephants play and splash in the water like they normally do. It was still a joy to see them interact in their herd.

We got to see an elephant that was so newly born they did not even know it existed. We only got a few glimpses of it because the herd was so protective of it. We could even see its umbilical cord dragging!

Another baby nursing

EVEN MONKEEEEYSSS!!!

I like this picture because it shows the path that the trucks drive on so clearly.

Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Africa merely because they are so protective of their offspring. They actually are vegetarians. I love this picture because it captured the hippos jaw springing open.

No pictures will ever do justice to the giraffes galloping at full speed.

Pure graceful bobbing back & forth

And Back & forth.

Whatchu looking at?

I love the lioness facial expressions.

The lion on the other hand could hardly be bothered to look our direction. His lady friend was in heat so he had other priorities.

Over all the game reserve experience was wonderful. I just do not know if I will ever seek one out again. But, seeing the giraffes gallop at full speed was easily one of the most surreal moments of my life.

Ain't No Birder

In one day Sarah and I got to crawl through one of the best caves I have ever been to and visit an ostrich farm. The Cave system was extremely well lit & it was a bit like a jungle play land the way we got to crawl around. 

The Ostrich Farm:

I think the Ostrich farm is what really made me miss teaching. We did a huge egg unit back at Eanes kinderland & this was like teacher heaven. There was so much good information. Did you know that Ostrich meat is the leanest meet in the World? Sarah & I had Ostrich steak the night before. It was delish!!! An ostrich egg also can feed up to 16 people for scrambled eggs. 

Most Ostrich are not friendly. Betsy was lame and maybe that caused her to be friendly? The farm only had one other that has ever been people safe. 

Sarah riding an Ostrich. The jockeys can ride them much more gracefully than us. They pull on the necks to direct it. An Ostrich can go up to about 25 miles per hour. 

At the end of our tour we got to see actual Ostriches being born. It was beyond exciting. They had them in an incubator & were able to take them out to show us. Typically it takes an ostrich 4-10 hours to be born. Unfortunately the camera died during these moments. So you guys will just have to go to South Africa to experience it. I'm going back who is coming with me this time?

Penguin Picnic

Sarah & I packed a picnic and hopped onto a train to Simons Town to go check out the African penguins. This day was easily one of my favorite days in Cape Town, if not my whole trip. The train ride was gorgeous, and Simons Town reminded me a lot of Wimbledon in England. It was just this lovely quaint town. 

I wish more than anything My footage could be uploaded to this site. But no dice.... I do have video of the  penguins hopping up & down the stairs & running around with all the children like they were playing hide & go seek. (Not to mention all the footage I have of my kiddos singing & dancing in the lollies of Coffee Bay! But we will just have to save that for another day....)

Look out Ace Ventura here comes Sarah Siegel.

Watch out glamour shots, here I come. 

Sarah & I decided we are going to have our HOLIDAY HOMES here at the penguin park. (Don't worry we have all our friends houses picked out here too!)

Everybody loves basking in the sun. 

Are you to good for your hole?

Everybody also loves a cuddle buddy!